This invention relates to a mixing element for mixing at least two kinds of fluids, and to a motionless fluid mixer using the mixing element.
A motionless fluid mixer has a fluid passage structure without any mechanically movable parts disposed in a passage tube, and more than one kind of fluids are passed through the passage tube so as to mix the fluids. Motionless fluid mixers of this type are used in many fields, e.g., chemistry, foods, pollution preventive engineering, and electronics industries.
The conventional motionless fluid mixer for mixing two or more kinds of fluids comprises, for example, (i) mixing elements each having a plurality of curved sheet-like blades disposed in a hollow cylindrical tube serially in point-contact with one another, the mixing elements being connected to one another with the edges of adjacent blades of the mixing elements arranged orthogonal to each other (e.g., as described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8290/1969), or (ii), as shown in FIG. 15, a plurality of mixing elements 51 each having a plurality of fluid passages 57, 58 formed by partitioning the interior of a cylindrical passage tube 53 with helical blades 55, the mixing elements being connected to one another with the adjacent edges of adjacent blades of the mixing forming a specified angle (e.g., as disclosed in Specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,741).
However, the conventional motionless fluid mixer does not always produce a sufficient mixing effect. Especially in gas-liquid mixing, sufficient gas absorbing and mixing effects have not been produced. Furthermore, in collecting dust it has been very difficult to capture fine particles. In mixing powders, sufficient mixing effect has not been obtained.